Google hires Windsurf execs in $2.4 billion deal to advance AI coding ambitions
Google is paying $2.4 billion in license fees as part of the deal to use some of Windsurf's technology under non-exclusive terms, according to a person familiar with the arrangement. Google will not take a stake or any controlling interest in Windsurf, the person added.
Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and some members of the coding tool's research and development team will join Google's DeepMind AI division.
The deal followed months of discussions Windsurf was having with OpenAI to sell itself in a deal that could value it at $3 billion, highlighting the interest in the code-generation space which has emerged as one of the fastest-growing AI applications, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in June.
OpenAI could not be immediately reached for a comment.
The former Windsurf team will focus on agentic coding initiatives at Google DeepMind, primarily working on the Gemini project.
"We're excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf's team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding," Google said in a statement.
The unusual deal structure marks a win for backers for Windsurf, which has raised $243 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks and General Catalyst, and was last valued at $1.25 billion one year ago, according to PitchBook.
Windsurf investors will receive liquidity through the license fee and retain their stakes in the company, sources told Reuters.
'ACQUIHIRE' DEALS
Google's surprise swoop mirrors its deal in August 2024 to hire key employees from chatbot startup Character.AI.
Big Tech peers, including Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, have similarly taken to these so-called acquihire deals, which some have criticized as an attempt to evade regulatory scrutiny.
Microsoft struck a $650 million deal with Inflection AI in March 2024, to use the AI startup's models and hire its staff, while Amazon hired AI firm Adept's co-founders and some of its team last June.
Meta took a 49 per cent stake in Scale AI in June in the biggest test yet of this increasing form of business partnerships.
Unlike acquisitions that would give the buyer a controlling stake, these deals do not require a review by U.S. antitrust regulators. However, they could probe the deal if they believe it was structured to avoid those requirements or harm competition. Many of the deals have since become the subject of regulatory probes.
The development comes as tech giants, including Alphabet and Meta, aggressively chase high-profile acquisitions and offer multi-million-dollar pay packages to attract top talent in the race to lead the next wave of AI.
Windsurf's head of business, Jeff Wang, has been appointed its interim CEO, and Graham Moreno, vice president of global sales, will be president, effective immediately.
The majority of Windsurf's roughly 250 employees will remain with the company, which has announced plans to prioritize innovation for its enterprise clients.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
10 minutes ago
- Straits Times
How AI is transforming wedding planning
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox AI is transforming the wedding planning process by providing couples and event planners with many useful tools. By the time Ms Emily Strand and Mr Will Christiansen exchange vows this fall, most of the tasks on their wedding to-do list will have been created, organised and completed thanks to artificial intelligence. These include everything from a seating chart to a personalised 70-word crossword puzzle for their Oct 11 wedding at the Rio Secco Golf Club in Henderson, Nevada. AI is helping them manage their budget and found their officiant and cake maker, too. Ms Strand's secret for getting it all done? Specificity. 'I asked ChatGPT to list, as a bride, common and uncommon things I needed to do to plan a DIY, 120-person, outdoor ceremony in Las Vegas in October 2025,' said Ms Strand, 31, a public defender for Clark County, Nevada. Within seconds ChatGPT spit out an Excel document listing 200 suggestions, including ideas from blog posts, Reddit and Google Crowdsource. 'Once it suggested vendors,' Ms Strand said, 'I had AI write my query letters to them.' She also asked for advice on improving her wedding website. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Government looking at enhancing laws around vaping to tackle issue of drug-laced vapes in Singapore Singapore Why the vape scourge in Singapore concerns everyone Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons Singapore Organised crime groups pushing drug-laced vapes in Asia including Singapore: UN Asia Why China's high-end hotels are setting up food stalls outside their doors Singapore Geothermal energy present in S'pore, but greater study on costs, stability needed, say experts Singapore Prison school to NUS: At 36, former drug abuser finds it's never too late to get a degree Singapore Driver arrested after 66-year-old woman dies in car crash at Geylang pasar malam What probably would have taken her 250 hours of research overall, she said, was completed by AI in about an hour. Wedding planning has long been time-consuming and stressful, filled with meticulous details and endless decision making. AI is transforming the process by providing couples and event planners with many useful tools. Among them: real-time cost analyses and budget tracking; virtual styling assistants; algorithms for seating; automated RSVP reminders; and augmented reality, or AR, which can allow couples to tour venues remotely. Ms Anne Chang, 32, a freelance DJ from New York City, said she wanted to 'simplify and optimise' the planning for her five-day bachelorette party in Ibiza, Spain, and turned to an AI tool on Bridesmaid for Hire, a wedding service platform. Seconds after plugging in some basic information, a six-page itinerary was produced that 'factored in that the night we're going to a club, our following morning would be a late rise and breakfast, and a chill beach day,' Ms Chang said. She paid US$35 (S$45 ) for the assistance. The itinerary offered recommendations and featured a 'fun meter' for each activity. Other unexpected touches included group photo shoot suggestions and locations, a packing checklist, emergency precautions and names of the nearest hospitals. Ms Julia Lynch, 31, and Mr Alex Eckstein, 30, of New York City, used the same site but a different tool to create a seating chart for their 300 guests, who are attending their wedding on Aug 23 at the Hillrock Estate Distillery in Ancram, New York, where Mr Eckstein is a partner. 'The complexities of who to seat people next to is overwhelming,' said Ms Lynch, a personal brand strategist. After inputting the names and details about their guests, the program created two seating charts, for two meals that will be served on different nights, taking into account guests' commonalities and family dynamics. 'The tool gave me suggestions for designs, layouts and types of tables within the parameters of our tent,' said Ms Lynch, who chose round tables for easier conversation. She described the experience as fun and, at US$9, inexpensive. Though her wedding planner is full service, she said she wanted to optimise his time. 'This took seconds and eliminated the need for him to do the work,' she said. In 2024 , Ms Jen Glantz, a professional vows writer who started Bridesmaid for Hire in 2014, added an AI speechwriting component to her human-driven offerings. Since introducing the tool, around 1,300 people opted for a US$35 AI speech, versus 20 people who each hired Ms Glantz to write them for US$375. Now 10 different AI tools, including a 24-hour hotline that people call for advice, are available, and account for 70 per cent of her business. 'The hotline gives users actionable advice and steps they can take, with a bit of sympathy in my trained voice and expertise,' she said. 'For my customers, AI is making this industry more personalised, affordable, faster, and efficient.' Popular wedding platforms like the Knot, Minted and Canva are also incorporating AI into their sites. Zola, the wedding website, added two AI programs in 2024 : Split the Decisions, which helps couples divide wedding planning responsibilities, and a thank-you note generator tool available as a mobile app. It is also planning to add a wedding vendor budget assistant in August. Other AI platforms have been recently built out of firsthand wedding experiences, like Guestlist and When Ms Michelle Nemirovsky, 35, and Mr Federico Polacov, 34, of Austin, Texas, were married in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Dec 17, 2023, the couple wished they had a better way to track RSVPs and connect instantly with guests. 'People have a wedding website, but no one looks at it, and it doesn't give updates in real time,' said Ms Nemirovsky, who, with Mr Polacov, started Guestlist in 2024. Ms Nemirovsky described the site as a social network that organizes RSVPs and offers real-time updates. More than 7,300 people have downloaded the app since its launch, and a 24-hour AI chatbot component is in the works for later this year. Some services are free, and others require a US$10 monthly subscription that gives unlimited photo and video uploads, and texting to guests. Though most professionals and couples agreed AI is a tool, rather than a replacement for people, many said AI was doing the job of numerous people, all at once. 'Not all brides will need a full-service planner if they can do a lot of legwork themselves with AI,' Ms Strand said. 'We only needed 'a day-of coordinator'.' Ms Nemirovsky, though, was glad to have her planner by her side. 'The night before our wedding, a huge storm hit,' she said. 'Everything we planned was outside and needed to be inside. ChatGPT could not have replaced our wedding planner who consoled me while I was crying, or coordinated our vendors while making sure our Plan B looked like plan A.' NYTIMES
CNA
6 hours ago
- CNA
SpaceX to invest $2 billion in Musk's xAI startup, WSJ reports
SpaceX has agreed to invest $2 billion in Elon Musk's AI startup xAI, marking one of its largest external investments and nearly half of xAI's recent $5 billion equity raise, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
International Business Times
11 hours ago
- International Business Times
Google Ropes-in Windsurf AI Talent on Board in $2.4 Billion Tech Licensing Deal Without Taking Ownership
The hiring spree of top talent among the tech giants is gaining momentum as companies leave no stone unturned in the race to further develop AI. Now, following from Meta, OpenAI, and Apple's efforts, it's the turn of Google to double down on AI code generation with hires of key thinkers integral to its mission. The tech giant has also hired some key people from the AI startup Windsurf, including CEO Varun Mohan and co-founder Douglas Chen. These leaders will collaborate with Google DeepMind in developing cutting-edge AI-driven coding through the Gemini project. Rather than acquiring Windsurf outright, Google will pay $2.4 billion in license fees to access its technology on a nonexclusive basis. Google will not take a stake or any controlling interest in the startup, sources informed TechCrunch. The move came after months of discussions between Windsurf and OpenAI, which had explored the possibility of buying the start-up in a deal that would have valued it at $3 billion. But that deal fell through, and then Google stepped in to secure Windsurf's advanced code-generation capabilities. The new hires will work on agentic coding, centered on AI systems that can write and improve code with little human help. This is a rapidly expanding territory and increasingly important for the big AI players. "We are thrilled to welcome a part of Windsurf's top AI coding talent to Google DeepMind, and we will be building on their work to bring about more progress in agentic coding," Google said in a statement. The licensing model allows Windsurf to remain an independent company. Its investors, which include Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks, and General Catalyst, will be paid the license fee and retain their shares. Windsurf, which pulled in $243 million and was most recently valued at $1.25 billion, is now looking to turn its attention to its corporate customers. New Leadership Jeff Wang has been appointed interim CEO of Windsurf, and Graham Moreno will serve as president. Most of its 250 employees will stay on and continue innovating, the company said. This isn't the first move of this kind for Google. In August 2024, it recruited Character's key staff. AI without a full acquisition. Other tech giants, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, are deploying similar strategies—often known as "acquihires"—to "bring on board top AI talent while circumventing regulatory entanglements associated with traditional buyouts. Experts warn that the perception of such agreements as ways to circumvent antitrust rules could trigger regulatory scrutiny.
